A Maine Democratic Senate candidate could see his campaign upended after his wife revealed he had sent sexually explicit messages to at least a dozen women while they were desperately trying to conceive through IVF.
Graham Platner, 40, is hoping to upset Republican Susan Collins’ seat in the Senate, but the Bernie Sanders-backed candidate, who has run his campaign on making healthcare affordable, could face a setback after scandalous texts were revealed.
His wife, Amy Gertner, had told his campaign last year that she had found her husband talking up to 12 women via text, The New York Times reported.
She disclosed the information to Genevieve McDonald, who was Platner’s political director until October, the report added.
Gertner considered McDonald a friend and told her the information right before Platner was supposed to join a rally with Sanders over Labor Day weekend as she feared it might become a liability, The Wall Street Journal said.
In the profile picture from his Kik account viewed by the Daily Mail, Platner was only a towel while taking a bare chested photo in the bathroom.
Platner’s face was not featured in the picture, but his tattoos were visible and the Democratic candidate’s public profile featured his full name.
However, Platner’s Totenkopf ink, which is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol, was covered up by his hand. Platner has since covered the tattoo.
Graham Platner, 40, reported was sexually texting many women behind his wife’s back last year, his wife revealed to his campaign
Platner’s Kik profile picture, viewed by the Daily Mail, showed the Democratic candidate posing shirtless and in only a towel
Gertner disclosed the information to an aide she considered a friend right before Platner was supposed to join a rally with Sanders over Labor Day weekend
Campaign aides decided the messages were a private matter and the scheduled rally went on as scheduled, a campaign official told WSJ.
The couple handled the issue in marriage counseling, and the texts have never publicly been revealed.
‘We did the hard work that marriage requires,’ Gertner said through her husband’s campaign.
‘We were honest with each other in ways that weren’t easy. And we came through it, not in spite of how much we’ve been through, but because of how much we love each other and the life we’ve built.’
The wife, who is employed by her husband’s campaign, insisted her marriage to the oyster farmer was ‘stronger than ever before.’
‘I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t,’ she said.
The Platner campaign told The New York Times that he had been communicating with up to six women, rather than up to a dozen.
He had stopped before launching his campaign.
His campaign determined the matter was private and allowed the candidate to continue with the event that involved Bernie Sanders backing him in the Senate race
Gertner, who is employed by her husband’s campaign, said the couple dealt with their marital issues in therapy
News about the texts came as the couple navigated IVF. They they were struggling to conceive, Gertner told the Bangor Daily News in January.
They did the reproductive treatment in Norway, as the cost of doing it in the US far exceeded their financial capacity, she said.
Platner, who is a veteran, was unable to get any help from the VA.
‘He has A+ sperm,’ his wife told the outlet. ‘So the VA is not giving us any money.’
The couple’s journey to conceive has become an essential part of the Democrat’s campaign.
The couple met in 2021 when they were in other relationships, but later reconnected on Bumble, a dating app. They dated for six months before getting married in 2023, and they started trying for a child soon after.
The explicit texts are not the first scandal the wannabe father has found himself in since launching his Senate campaign.
He had to delete an old Reddit account, which included comments downplaying sexual assault and vulgar remarks about sex workers, WSJ reported.
He also reportedly made comments suggesting he had lenient views about infidelity.
In one post, he reportedly wrote about ‘getting wasted and bragging about all the chicks he was slaying who weren’t his wife’ at a local bar, WSJ reported.
‘I’ve got a pretty flexible moral compass when it comes to those things,’ he reportedly said.
Platner covered the tattoo in October with a different design. His campaign initially said he would remove the ink
He also admitted to having a Nazi tattoo, which he has since covered up.
Platner has claimed he got the tattoo during a night of drinking in Croatia and was unaware of its Nazi association. He has since covered the tattoo with a different design.
The initial ink resembled a specific symbol of Hitler’s paramilitary SS during World War II.
The progressive candidate’s campaign initially said he would remove the ink, but Platner said he chose to cover it up because of the limited options where he lives in rural Maine.
Platner, at 51 percent, holds a nine percentage point lead over the incumbent Collins, according to a University of New Hampshire poll released on Wednesday.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Platner for comment.
